Hamstring Pain vs Sciatica: How To Relieve Pain In Back Of Thigh

Hamstring Pain vs Sciatica

How do you know whether your "hamstring pain" in the back of your thigh is truly coming from a hamstring injury or whether it's from sciatica?

Your hamstrings are really strong muscles, so they're not injured easily.

Usually hamstring strains happen with high-force activities, like a sprinter sprinting across the finish line.

If you just woke up one morning and your hamstrings were sore or tight, or if your pain has gradually been building over a period of time, it's probably more likely sciatica.

Hamstring injuries don't usually just happen gradually without cause.

While many people may have stiff or tight hamstrings, stiff or tight hamstrings themselves usually don't cause hamstring pain.

Other sciatica symptoms

A second way is if you have back pain, buttock pain, or numbness and tingling in your leg along with your hamstring pain.

Those other associated symptoms are more likely to be caused by a nerve root problem in your lower back or sciatica from piriformis syndrome rather than a true hamstring strain.

A third way to tell is by doing the the Slump Test.

To do this test, sit in a chair and slump over, clasping your hands behind your back.

Then bring your chin down toward your chest.

This tensions your spinal cord and your nervous system by rounding it out around your back.

Next, straighten your knee.

If you feel a stretch in that position, that could be caused by either a hamstring problem or sciatica.

However, the way to differentiate between hamstring pain vs. sciatica is to move something remote to your hamstring.

For example, pull your toes toward you (ankle dorsiflexion). If you feel an increase in hamstring pain or tightness by bringing your foot up, that has to be a nerve problem because your hamstrings don't attach to your ankle.

Furthermore, if you bring your head up and that releases some of the tension off of your hamstrings, that's also likely a nerve problem.

Again your hamstrings don't attach up to your head.

So, if you can move a remote area and that affects your hamstring pain, then it's probably not a hamstring injury to begin with.

How To Relieve Hamstring Pain

Next, how do you relieve hamstring pain in the back of the thigh?

Fortunately, whether it's coming from a hamstring injury or from sciatica, the treatment approaches are somewhat similar.

However, before we get into what to do, let's cover what NOT do for hamstring pain and sciatica.

What NOT To Do For Hamstring Pain

There are two common mistakes that people make for both hamstring injuries as well as sciatica, and I want to share those with you first.

Hamstring Stretches

One of the most common mistakes people make for both hamstring strains and sciatica is stretching their hamstrings.

You'd think that if a muscle was sore, you should stretch it, right?

Well, hamstring injuries are actually caused by the hamstrings being overstretched.

A strain is actually an overstretching or a tear of a muscle.

So, if your hamstrings are overstretched or torn, the last thing you want to do is stretch it farther.

Furthermore, with sciatica, if your nerve is pinched in your lower back or pinched in the buttock, stretching your hamstrings just puts more tension on the nerve.

Muscles were made to stretch, but nerves were not made to stretch.

In fact, you might actually have "tight hamstrings" if you have sciatica, but that's because the muscles tighten up in order to protect the nerve from further injury.

Therefore, regardless of whether you have a hamstring strain or whether you have sciatica, it's probably not a good idea to stretch your hamstrings... even if they feel tight.

So, what should you do for hamstring pain instead?

One good option is doing what's called a nerve glide.

In the case of a nerve problem like sciatica, doing a nerve glide by moving your leg gently back and forth within the pain-free range is good to help the nerve move back and forth through the tissues that it's supposed to run to.

It also gets movement and blood flow to the nerve, which your nerves need to be healthy.

In the case of a hamstring problem, doing nerve glides help gently move your hamstrings without overly tensioning it.

However, you don't want to stretch it to end range, to the point where you're further stretching or injuring it.

Just move your leg back and forth, whether you're just doing that to get your hamstring moving again or whether you're using it to glide your sciatic nerve.

Not that if you have sciatica, it's important to figure out what's causing the sciatica in the first place before blinding doing nerve glides.

We can help you with that if you're in the St. Louis area.

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Foam Rolling The Hamstrings

Another common mistake that people make is foam rolling their hamstrings.

If you have a torn tissue, you really don't want to roll over the sore or injured part.

(There may be some value to rolling on other parts of the hamstrings that aren't painful.) 

However, you definitely don't want to roll right over the part that's torn or injured because you're just irritating the problem further.

Likewise, if you have an irritable sciatic nerve and you're rolling on it and mashing on it, you're probably just going to make it more irritable.

Nerves are irritable tissues. When you make them mad, they tend to stay mad.

Therefore, it's a good idea not to do things that further irritate your problem.

There are some good ways to use a foam roller for hamstring pain though.

Again, you can use it on parts of your hamstrings that have muscle knots or trigger points but aren't painful.

If you can relieve stiffness in the parts of the hamstring that aren't overstretched, that takes tension off the parts of the hamstring that are overstretched.

However, it's even better to use a foam roller on your quadriceps, the muscles that counterbalance your hamstrings.

If you're having to work against more resistance from your quadriceps or your hip flexors, your hamstrings are going to have to work harder.

So again, rolling on the front of your thighs can be helpful if you have  hamstring pain.

One of your quadriceps muscles, the rectus femoris, crosses both the hip and the knee joints.

Therefore, it's a hip flexor in addition to a knee extensor.

It helps counterbalance the hip extension action of your hamstrings as well as the knee flexion action.

However, you have other hip flexors that don't cross the knee.

And if your hip flexors are too stiff, they can pull you into a forward tilted position.

Tight hip flexors are a major cause of lower back pain and sciatica.

They also create more resistance for your hamstrings to work against.

While using the foam roller on your quadriceps is good for the rectus femoris,  it doesn't quite address the iliopsoas, the hip flexors that only cross the hips.

Psoas Release Tool

There is a tool to release the ilipsoas though.  It's aptly named the Psoas Release Tool.

You just the tool on the ground and wedge it right above or between your hip bones.

Then you just lie on it and take a couple of deep breaths, and breathe in and out. This allows the tool to kind of sink into your psoas.

That'll help to get the hip flexors to relax.

Buy the Pso-Rite® Psoas Release Tool. You can SAVE 50% using my discount code "M4LPT".

What Else To Do For Hamstring Pain

Hip Flexor Stretches

After you've done some of this soft tissue work, now you want to stretch your hip flexors.

A kneeling hip flexor stretch is good if you're able to put some weight on your knee because it allows you to stretch both your iliopsoas as well as your rectus femoris at the same time.

Start in a lunge position and roll your pelvis underneath of you to flatten out your lower back.

Then pushing your pelvis forward just until you feel a stretch in the front of the hip and the thigh.

You don't want to go so far that you allow your back to arch because then your psoas is just pulling your lower back into more arch.

You can potentially even pinch the nerves in your lower back doing this.

You don't have to lunge very far forward in order to feel the stretch in the front of your hip.

If you can't do a kneeling hip flexor stretch due to knee pain, you can also do it in in a standing position.

Start in a staggered stance and again roll your pelvis underneath. Then push your hips forwards.

This is more of an iliopsoas stretch than it is a rectus femoris stretch.

However, if you have a really stiff rectus femoris, you still may feel it a little bit in the front of your thigh as well.

Glute Strengthening

In addition to stretching your hip flexors, you also want to strengthen your glutes.

Your glutes counteract your hip flexors.

They also assist your hamstrings.

One common cause of sciatica is an anterior pelvic tilt.

Your glute muscles can help decrease that arch in your lower back.

That in turn opens the spaces where the nerve roots exit your spine.

Your Glutes Assist Your Hamstrings

When you're running or when you're walking, your hamstrings function to slow down your leg as it's swinging forward.

Additionally, when you're bending forward, your hamstrings help to control how fast you bend.

This requires a combination of both your hamstrings and your glutes together to slow down your leg or control your bend.

If you strengthen your gluteus maximus - your butt muscles -  your hamstrings don't have to work as hard.

One good way to strengthen your gluteus maximus is doing a bridge.

Glute Bridges

To do a bridge, lie on your back and do a pelvic tilt to flatten your lower back on the floor or bed.

Make sure your feet are flat to that you don't dig your heels into the bed or floor.  Doing so will activate your hamstrings by bending the knees.

Now hold the pelvic tilt and lift your bottom slightly.

Only go  as high as you can without allowing your lower back to arch.

So again:

1. pelvic tilt
2. squeeze your glutes
3. lift your bottom

That helps strengthen your abdominals and glute.

You might also feel a little bit of a stretch in the front of your thigh.

For these reasons, doing a bridge is good whether your hamstring pain caused by a hamstring problem or lower back problem.

Straight Leg Deadlift (Hip Hinge)

The final tip to help with hamstring pain is that you eventually need to strengthen your hamstrings.

When you bend forwards, you use your hamstrings eccentrically, meaning they're lengthening while they're also producing force.

Many people who have sciatica or back pain are actually afraid of bending forwards or may have even been told that bending forwards is bad for them.

Doing a straight leg deadlift (hip hinge) is good for both eccentrically strengthening your hamstrings as for retraining the motion of forward bending.

To do a hip hinge, start out by pushing your hips backwards.

If you're leaning forwards with your back rounded as shown below, you're using a lot of your lower back muscles.

By pushing your hips back and keeping  your spine in a neutral position, you use both your glutes as well as your hamstrings to aid with forward bending.

Only go down as far as you feel comfortable going.

This should be a pain-free exercise.

Then, squeeze your glutes and hamstrings to bring you back up to a standing position.

Learn more about how to bend without back pain here. 

Start with just five repetitions and then work up to 10 or 15 repetitions.

Again, these should all be pain-free exercises.

Hamstring Pain vs Sciatica

Keep in mind, this your pain may not always be hamstring pain OR sciatica.

It could be a little bit of both. always an either-or type of problem. For example, If you strain your hamstrings, you may also tension the sciatic nerve.

Fortunately though, the treatments for the two problems do have many parallels.

However, I would recommend seeing a healthcare professional to get help for the problem rather than trying to navigate it on your own.

By seeing a professional, you can make sure you're doing the right things to help you heal as fast as possible.

If you're in the St. Louis area, we'd be happy to here at More 4 Life.

Just tap the button below to request an appointment with one of our specialists.

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